


Just a Game

by GreyLiliy



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Car Trine, Cheating, Gambling, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-01
Updated: 2014-01-01
Packaged: 2018-01-07 01:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1114162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyLiliy/pseuds/GreyLiliy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Knock Out never thought he'd be out conned by someone...who wasn't a 'Con!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just A Game

**Author's Note:**

> Written in November 2013.
> 
> I'm a tad obsessed with Prime Smokescreen slowly gaining traits from his G1 Counterpart.

Knock Out’s fingers twitched holding his last poker chip.

He considered himself a skillful player. He was a Decepticon—or had been. ‘Cons gambled. They cheated. Knock Out cheated. He was good at cheating. He could hide and manipulate cards with the best of them. His mind was his forte, and this was just another venue. And yet somehow, Knock Out’s entire stockpile had been pilfered by one lost hand after another.

He hid his remaining playing piece in his palm. Knock Out snarled and glared openly, like a turbo fox. This was embarrassing. Childish or not, Knock Out wasn’t going to give it up.

"Come on, guys, don’t be such sore losers," his opponent across from him chuckled. "Cough ‘um up."

"You’re an aft, you know that?" Bee hissed, in much the same delima as Knock Out. He too threw his last chip on the table, and crossed his arms angrily on the desk. "I can’t believe you won every single hand."

Bumblebee had been flattened as easily as Knock Out.

"See? Bee knows where it’s at. Come on, Red. I won, fair and square," their enemy laughed. "So give me the chip."

"You cheated," Knock Out hissed. He knew this, because only a cheater could beat a cheater and Knock Out had been most definitely cheating. "I can’t prove it, but you must have."

"Innocent until proven guilty, Red," he laughed. Door wings fluttered in amusement, and matched the smile trying to keep itself from turning into laughter with a twitch. "I told you guys I was good at this."

"So you did," Knock Out hissed, throwing his last chip on the pile so hard one already in the stack flew off and whacked Bumblebee in the cheek. "Frag it!"

Who knew Smokescreen was such a damn good gambler!?


	2. Know When To Quit

"How’d you do it?" Knock Out asked, shoving Smokescreen’s shoulder into a wall. He cornered the blue Autobot brat, and downright hissed in his frustration. He’d been wracking his brain for a week replaying that card game. "No one wins every single hand of poker without ‘assistance.’"

 Smokescreen chuckled, ignoring the grip on his shoulder. He pat the back of Knock Out’s hand, and grinned. “I think you’re just mad I noticed you were cheating, and figured out a strategy around it.”

Knock Out narrowed his optics and leaned in. He ingored the way he could hear the brat’s systems pick up in excitement. He was enjoying this. The nerve! Knock Out pinned the kid to the wall, by bracing his knee between Smokescreen’s legs. “No one is that good. How’d you do it?”

Smokescreen tapped the side of his helm, and shrugged. He shifted, brushing his thigh against Knock Out’s leg. “I used my head, that’s all. The game’s part strategy, part luck—and I happen to have both on my side. I’m ‘Destiny’s Child,’ remember?”

Knock Out snarled, and grabbed the blue ‘Bot’s shoulders in his claws and shook him. Smokescreen bit his lip to keep from laughing—he wasn’t scared at all! Knock Out twisted his hand, and the kid yelped as the metal bended. “You brat! Don’t you get cocky with me. I know that you did—”

"There a problem?" Wheeljack asked, walking over to the two sportscars. Both Knock Out and Smokescreen froze at the interuption, then wilted—they were in public, weren’t they? Wheeljack looked between the two of them, and crossed his arms. "If you guys are going to brawl, I’d love to join in."

Knock Out released Smokescreen’s shoulder and held his hand up. “No problem, just settling something from last week.”

"It’s cool, Wheeljack," Smokescreen said. He put his hands behind his back and flicked his wings. "Knock Out’s just a little sore from losing a game."

"I see," Wheeljack said. He rubbed the side of his mouth with the back of his thumb. "Well, can’t blame a guy for that."

"Your empathy is overhwelming," Knock Out said, and rolled his optics and rubbed the side of his face. He took a step back, and turned to walk away. Smokescreen was one thing, but Wheeljack still made him nervous. Who knew what Wreckers were going to do? Insane. All of them. Knock Out pointed at Smokescreen. "This isn’t over."

* * *

Wheeljack waited for Knock Out to leave earshot, when he glanced at the kid smiling fondly at the Red Sportscar. He knocked his elbow into Smokescreen’s. “So, did you cheat?”

"Autobots don’t cheat," Smokescreen said, but there was a flash of mischief in his optics that Wheeljack would recognize from a mile away.

"They don’t use fighting techniques most ‘Cons would balk at either," Wheeljack said, raising a brow. He tapped the front of his chest, and smirked at the kid. "And yet, here I am."

Smokescreen shrugged, and smiled knowingly at Wheeljack. “I’ll put it this way, as long as no one can prove it—I didn’t cheat.”

"So what happens when someone can prove it?" Wheeljack smirked. He leaned no Smokescreen’s shoulder, and put his head in the crook of his elbow. Smokescreen leaned over under his weight, but managed. Wheeljack pointed across the room. "Then not only is Knock Out right, but you’re revealed as a cheater and a liar. Not very Autobot, kid."

"You never know what life has in store, cards or otherwise." Smokescreen flicked his doorwings at Wheeljack, but his optics stayed glued to the red car across the room waving his arms at Bumblebee. The kid fliped a card out of his palm, and held it between two fingers—an Ace. He rolled his fingers, sending the card under. It dissappeared as quickly as it came, and Smokescreen smiled at Wheeljack. "So I’ll play that hand when I get there."

"Knock Out’s right. You are a brat," Wheeljack said. He pushed off of Smokescreen’s shoulder and shook his head. Wheeljack huffed, "Just hope you know when to quit."

Smokescreen watched Knock Out, again, the smile fond. “A good gambler always does.”


End file.
